Forte dei Marmi, Alfredo Catarsini and Ernesto Treccani compared in an impossible exhibition

After the success of last summer’s exhibition, Villa Bertelli in Forte dei Marmi returns to host an exhibition of works by Alfredo Catarsini (Viareggio, 1889 - 1993). From June 1 to July 31, in fact, the historic Versilia venue is hosting the exhibition Un incontro inaspettato. Catarsini and Treccani in the Mirror, which compares Catarsini’s works with that of another great 20th century artist, Ernesto Treccani (Milan, 1920 - 2009).

Curated by Rodolfo Bona, the exhibition puts Catarsini’s works in dialogue with those of Treccani, which are kept in the room named after him in Villa Bertelli, granted on loan to the Villa Bertelli Foundation by the family, and created between the 1970s and 1980s, depicting subjects of lyrically transfigured naturalism, characterized by “expanded footprints, without linear, let alone geometric, control, which nevertheless create contrasts and dissonances that do not suggest informal pleasantness but are the symptom of a drama that is vented in color,” as art critic Raffaele De Grada wrote.

There are eight works by Catarsini that make concrete “the encounter” between the two artists. And although to date there is no documented meeting between them, certainly the two artists had much in common, besides Versilia, such as some acquaintances: Carlo Carrà, De Grada himself and others. The hope is that sooner or later a trace of their meeting will really emerge. Be that as it may, so far it is necessary to be content with the sharing of an exhibition. So for now that between Treccani and Catarsini is an “impossible encounter”: the paintings of the two artists are reflected, from one wall of the room to the other, as in a mirror, in their diversity, in an ideal confrontation on form and its structuring or deconstruction, where the protagonists are man, nature and color.

Art, then, makes possible what has never happened and does so, once again through the material of which it is made. In this case with that painting that the two artists loved and carried with them in the forms and colors that filled their lives, along with their common love for men and things in a concrete adherence to the facts of existence.

Twenty-one years of age difference and a generation separated the Milanese Treccani from the Viareggio-based Catarsini. The former was often far away from his studio in the habitual creative sojourns that in the 1990s often took him to Macugnaga, Gropparello, Nice and, of course, Forte dei Marmi, so close to that Viareggio from which Catarsini hesitated to detach himself and to which he was almost viscerally attached. In this room, however, it is difficult to escape the suggestion of imagining this encounter perhaps never happened. Strong is the temptation to juxtapose the works of one with those of the other, bringing the two artists to life in the eyes of the visitor, imagining them together, as perhaps they never were. An operation that also allows us to compare the careers of the two artists, so different, although this summer allows us to admire some of their signature works together.

The exhibition opens in June on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from 4 to 7 p.m., in July daily from 5 to 10 p.m. For info see the Villa Bertelli website and that of the Catarsini Foundation.

Image: Alfredo Catarsini, The Lake of Massaciuccoli (oil on cardboard).

Forte dei Marmi, Alfredo Catarsini and Ernesto Treccani compared in an impossible exhibition

Warning: the translation into English of the original Italian article was created using automatic tools. We undertake to review all articles, but we do not guarantee the total absence of inaccuracies in the translation due to the program. You can find the original by clicking on the ITA button. If you find any mistake,please contact us.